A few years ago, if you'd gone to watch a symphony concert by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO), you'd probably have cried — but not tears of joy. To borrow a phrase from late Wits music professor Walter Mony, the ensemble sounded like hardened professionals who hated their jobs. But late last month, the JPO sparkled while accompanying Cape Town Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca at the city’s Nelson Mandela Theatre. The old sloppiness had given way to a new precision and focus.
In an interview ahead of opening night, Cape Town Opera artistic director Magdalene Minnaar said: “The orchestra is sounding phenomenal. Joburgers must come and support the orchestra because the JPO is sounding really, really good.”
Musician and aficionado Tracy Norman agrees. As a frequent international concertgoer, she has a good grasp of what orchestras around the world deliver. “I'd given up going to orchestral concerts in Johannesburg a few years ago because I was so appalled by the standard and the lack of pride I'd seen. But when they do their seasonal concerts now, I won’t miss them. Nowadays, if you don’t book your season ticket in good time, you won't get one because they’re sold out. Before Covid that was never the case.”
On Thursday some of the JPO’s musicians will join their counterparts from other regional orchestras onstage at the city’s Linder Auditorium as the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra. They will perform Mahler’s monumental Symphony No 5 which demands a large orchestra and Mzansi Phil is obliging with 72 players. After performing in Johannesburg they will travel to Cape Town and Gqeberha.
While the concert has been billed as a Women’s Day tribute, it was by accident and not by design that the programme for this year’s tour is dominated by women. More than half Mzansi Phil are women.
The orchestra will be directed by Marin Alsop, the American-born Austrian who is one of the world’s foremost conductors. Also on the bill is 27-year-old Limpopo-born dramatic soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, who has graced stages including London’s Covent Garden and the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany. For this concert she will be singing Verdi, Puccini and Wagner arias.
The concert master — the position of first violinist — is Johannesburg-born Sarah Jane Oates who has spent the past 10 years as associate leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. Leading the viola section is Louise Lansdown, the Cape Town-born head of strings at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Taking her seat in the second violin section this week is Olga Maraba, a resident of Diepkloof who teaches at Soweto’s Morris Isaacson Centre for Music as well as private schools Crawford and Redhill in Johannesburg.
“The standard is very high. We have people who have moved out of the country, to the UK and Europe, but we still take them as South Africans. We also have the Odeion String Quartet from Free State University. You know when you're sharing a stage with them you're performing with good players and you also want to work hard and be at the same level as they are,” she says.
Mzansi Phil associate conductor Kutlwano Masote says there's been a marked rise in orchestral standards across the country. He is the father of Pendo Masote, 19, an Mzansi Phil fellow and violin student at the world-renowned Yehudi Menuhin School in the UK, who will be sitting in the second violin section this week.
“It has everything to do with the environment. As much as we were all critical of the state sponsoring classical music, here we had a minister [then Nathi Mthethwa] who was going to start an orchestra, and that heralded a new era,” he says of the controversy surrounding the orchestra’s establishment last year.
“Orchestras have existed as Section 21 companies, fending for themselves. There hasn’t been a national focus or a national plan ... The formation of one has lifted everybody’s spirits.”
Masote, whose father Michael began the Soweto Youth Orchestra in 1965, says he is seeing a crop of new musicians coming through from more energised university music departments who are “keen to play and keen to learn”.
Sitting in the viola section this week will be Maja van Dyk, 30, from Cape Town. She puts the improvement in standards down to the availability of high-quality music education and training programmes, such as the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. Others add organisations such as Soweto’s Buskaid and Morris Isaacson to this list.
“Advancements in technology have made it easier for musicians to access resources, such as online tutorials and virtual practice tools that can help them refine their skills,” she says.
“Furthermore, the rise of social media and platforms like YouTube has provided classical musicians with greater visibility and opportunities for collaboration, inspiring them to push their boundaries and strive for excellence, especially during the recent lockdown when we were forced to take our music online,” said Van Dyk.
“The ease of sharing performances online has allowed musicians to showcase their talent and learn from one another, fostering a sense of healthy competition and continuous growth ... It creates an environment of mutual support and pushes everyone to raise their game.”
These online platforms include TikTok where playing an orchestral instrument is, in the words of those who use it, “a massive flex” and where classical music is considered cool.
Mzansi Phil has a cadetship programme that aims to grow the numbers of black musicians, and a fellowship programme for locals who have earned scholarships or placements at foreign music schools. Maraba’s son, cellist Kamogelo, is one of these, studying at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Concert master Oates is excited to join the ranks of Mzansi Phil for the first time. “I'm optimistic about the level I'm expecting to find in South Africa. My goal will be to to take everybody along for the experience. There will be diverse levels [of skill], but the idea is to make sure everybody is on board,” she said.
But it’s not just the racial makeup of Mzansi Phil, JPO and other regional orchestras such as the Cape Town Philharmonic and the KZN Philharmonic that's changed, it's evident in the audiences that watch them play.
Norman said she is noticing the elderly white concertgoers of old being supplemented by a “much younger and more diverse crowd”.
“It feels like a far better reflection of South Africa,” she says.
Masote says when he began playing in the now defunct National Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, “the only black people I consistently saw in the audience were my parents”.
“It’s definitely changed because young people have better information at their disposal. A broader section of society is interested in classical music, particularly opera. We're starting to see that translate into audiences of symphonic music.”
Maraba says an increasing number of people are attending concerts.
“We have more young people, and more young black people coming to watch the concerts, which we never had before. I think they just want to go out. Every time we perform with the JPO, it’s fully packed,” she says.
Alexandra Trinder-Smith runs the Johannesburg-based Phoenix Co Orchestra that accompanies Starlight Classics, the popular afro-symphonic show staged in early spring in the city which has been running for well over a decade. She speaks of a renewed energy in the sector, with players starting to realise their value. “The standards have improved; I'm seeing really excellent players coming up,” she says.
There has been a lot of controversy around Mzansi Phil CEO Bongani Tembe’s leadership of the national orchestra considering that he already leads the JPO and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra. Purists have also criticised the chosen repertoire as being full of the old bangers and shy of cerebral, challenging work.
Trinder-Smith says Mzansi Phil’s partnerships with several radio stations and aggressive marketing budgets are “putting [orchestral music] back in the public eye, which is great”.
“The Disney 100 concert [of the JPO in May, conducted by Eddie Clayton] was packed. If people like Bongani are putting on concerts that appeal to a more mass market it's fantastic because we need as many people to see our orchestral musicians as possible. If they’re playing Disney, so be it.
“There's something to be said for the serious classical music. It does require a certain level of technique. But we won’t get to the super heavy classical stuff if we don’t first get people coming to concerts. It’s like the gateway drug that must hook your soul.”
For Maraba and Van Dyk, this translates into more work, doing what they love. “This year I've worked more than any other. I've been working since January and my diary is packed,” says Maraba.
For Van Dyk, it's important for everyone who loves classical music to attend concerts and spread the word about the beauty of the art form. “By celebrating diversity in all its forms, we can contribute to a more inclusive and thriving classical music community for everyone to enjoy.”
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